The £50,000 fine has been imposed after an April 8 broadcast on Freeview. The six-minute promotion was repeated between 8.30pm and 10pm, and showed simulations of intercourse, oral sex, masturbation and orgasms, along with explicit captions.
It is the first time that the regulator, which vowed it would do its job with a "light touch", has levied a fine on a licence holder found in breach of Programme Codes.
XplicitXXX, which is run by Digital Television Production Company, admitted that it was in breach of the programme code in areas covering: taste and decency; family viewing and the watershed; and sex and nudity, and Ofcom deemed that it was a serious breach.
No member of the public actually complained about the broadcast. However, Ofcom was alerted to it by one of XplicitXXX's competitors.
Working against the broadcaster was the fact that there were more recent comparable infringements in December last year and January this year.
XplicitXXX blamed the broadcast on a junior who had mistakenly confused two tapes in identical containers, but the committee said that this showed lack of appropriate management control. It ruled that such infringements should not be tolerated.
In its adjudication, Ofcom said: "The committee was surprised to be told that even now XplicitXXX still lacks full and formal compliance training routines and written procedures devised to prevent, or failing that, to detect and correct mistakes being made when regular staff are absent or in any other circumstance."
Ofcom rejected arguments from the broadcaster that it is a loss-making channel and that the £50,000 fine would cripple a start-up business. The regulator has the statutory right to impose a fine of as much as £250,000.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
